Ayana Duncanson spent part of Thursday morning crying her eyes out in coach Steve Tsai’s office. The Francis Lewis senior is prone to that kind of emotion – “I cry for everything,” she admitted – but in this case a grueling choice was taking hold.

Duncanson, a 5-foot-11 senior forward, could have signed with Division II schools American International, Adelphi or New Haven. She also could have waited for Division I schools, whose coaches wanted to see her play more. Then there were a few Ivy League institutions who wanted her to take the SAT one more time. The latter two choices meant she would have to wait until April to make things official with a college.

It was enough to make a teen girl’s head spin.

“I was really nervous,” she said. “I don’t like making big decisions.”

Finally, she made a choice, one that she felt good about three days ago, but couldn’t pull the trigger on. Duncanson signed a National Letter of Intent to attend New Haven on Thursday afternoon, ending the arduous recruiting process.

“It was everything I wanted,” she said.

Duncanson went on a visit to the Connecticut school two weeks ago and had a great time. Her visit to Adelphi wasn’t nearly as fun and the prospects of waiting until April and taking the SAT again didn’t really interest her.

“I felt [New Haven] was where I needed to be,” Duncanson said.

The lanky power forward is an exceptional athlete known for her defense and rebounding ability. She’s the sixth player from the NY Xplosion to earn a scholarship in the Class of 2010. Kelly Robinson and Sabrina Jeridore, teammates at Lewis, committed to UMass and Iona, respectively. Archbishop Molloy’s Kyra Aloizos is going to Binghamton, Smithtown West’s Sara English is headed to UMass and Kastine Evans of Connecticut committed this week to Kentucky.

Duncanson, an Elmont, L.I., native, Jeridore and Robinson all transferred to Francis Lewis to much hype last fall, but things never really came to fruition. Coach Mike Eisenberg, a veteran of 15 years and six trips to the PSAL city championship game, was reassigned in December and Tsai, a school guidance counselor, stepped in.

Things, Duncanson said, are a bit more stable now in Fresh Meadows. The Patriots, a legitimate candidate to make a trip to the Garden, also added three more transfers: Jasmine Davis (St. Michael Academy), Nya Walker (St. Francis Prep) and Magdalena Janczak (Murry Bergtraum).

“We’ll actually have a coach from beginning to the end,” she said. “We have great additions to the team. … The level of commitment is much higher this year.”

And now that the recruiting process is over, Duncanson can focus on this season again.

“I feel so much better,” she said. “I was like crying. I didn’t know what to do.”